Dimon and Moynihan disappoint investors as revenue sputters

Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. led the six largest U.S. banks in boosting combined first-quarter profit 45%. Investors dumped the stocks.

The KBW Bank Index, tracking shares of 24 U.S. lenders, has slid 4.9% since April 11, the day before JPMorgan and Wells Fargo & Co. kicked off the industry’s quarterly reports. That’s the index’s worst performance during the six largest banks’ earnings season since 2010’s second quarter.

Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley shares declined even as four of them had net income that beat analysts’ estimates. With combined revenue down 2.5% excluding accounting charges, firms relied on a mix of tax benefits, headcount reductions and decreased expenses from bad debts and litigation to help fuel profits.

“They’re making their numbers for all the wrong reasons,” said Michael Mullaney, the chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust, which manages about $9.5 billion including shares of Wells Fargo and JPMorgan. “It’s definitely troublesome.”

Sputtering revenue is starting to erode a U.S. bank-stock rally that peaked March 15. After climbing 63% in the 17 1/2 months leading up to that date, the KBW Bank Index has slid 6.1%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index of 81 companies has fallen 3.4% since mid-March, compared with a 1.2% decline in the broader S&P.

Among the six banks, only Citigroup Inc. rose during earnings season, climbing 0.5%. The third-largest U.S. lender by assets, led by Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat, 52, posted a 30% jump in profit, as fixed-income trading and investment banking exceeded analysts’ estimates.

Record Profits

JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank, and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, both reported record quarterly net income. They also posted the only decreases in revenue as earnings from home loans slumped. Those units thrived last year as record-low interest rates encouraged customers to refinance.

“We really thought that mortgages were going to be the salvation in 2013,” Mullaney said. “That’s somewhat suspect right now based on the numbers that are being reported.”